Listen with Empathy to Motivate Older Kids Have you ever noticed that as kids age using rewards and punishments that used to motivate them as young children, no longer work at encouraging them to behave? The reason for this is that as kids get older, their motivation becomes intrinsic. In an article on verywell.com, Kendra […]

How Do You Get Kids to Listen? Listening skills can be practiced in fun ways in the home. Since kids learn through play, here are fun ways to teach your charges to listen better. Story Chain Play a story game with the child or with the whole family. The Babycenter web site suggests that one […]

Avoid Slow Ears Syndrome Slow Ears Syndrome is what I call it when children talk to me and I hear the words, but not the underlying meaning of what they are trying to say. Slow Ears Syndrome is also when I speak to my charges and they don’t listen to me. Slow Ears Syndrome is when kids and […]

How Do You Get Kids to Listen? Listening skills can be practiced in fun ways in the home. Since kids learn through play, here are fun ways to teach your charges to listen better. Story Chain Play a story game with the child or with the whole family. The Babycenter web site suggests […]

How to Teach Listening Skills Many kids seem to talk nonstop. Listening, however, tends to be more of a challenge for kids, many of whom are “selective listeners,” according to website Baby Center. Because good listening skills are an important life skill and a key aspect of effective communication, it’s best to foster good listening […]

Children learn through play. That’s why I love referencing the book Playwiseby Denise Chapman Weston and Mark S. Weston. The book includes 365 fun-filled activities for building character, conscience, and emotional intelligence in children. Here are just a few of their activities that improve listening skills: Listening Cap: “Put your listening cap on.” Turn this […]

What Not to Do When I heard one of my charges needs to work on listening to his teacher in school, I realized he doesn’t listen to me well at home. I have to repeat myself often before he does what is asked of him. Should I really need to remind him “upteen times” to […]

How Nannies and Au Pairs Help Kids Thrive in School Be the Best Nanny Newsletter has received several questions from au pairs and nannies about helping their charges with homework and behavior issues at school. To help answer in-home child care provider questions, Maria Lopez, a former second grade teacher and nanny working in Miami, […]